It's finally here! Today, we made our first visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. We met with a wonderful lady named Ms. Stephanie. She was sooooo nice, and made us feel so welcome!! She told us a little about what the people at Vanderbilt would do with my bows and ballcaps and how they would give them out to kids there who have cancer. I was so happy to know that they would make a difference in other people's lives. Thanks to all of the wonderful donations we have received, we were able to deliver 50 bows and 50 ballcaps to the hospital today!! 

As Stephanie was talking to us, she was telling us about other ways we could help the children there.  She said they do special events around holidays that  they always need donations for... trick or treat items for Halloween or gifts for the kids who are in the hospital for Christmas.  It made me really sad to think about kids that spend these fun holidays in the hospital feeling sick.  Many of you have sent emails asking how you can help and be a part of B&B.  So here are a few ideas:  1)  You can send money to Bows & Ballcaps.  This will help us buy more bows and ballcaps to deliver to the hospital on a regular basis.  Ms. Stephanie says the supply we delivered today will last about a month at Vanderbilt.  I would love to make deliveries on a regular basis so they always have bows and ballcaps for the kids.  2)  We can help make the holidays special for all of the kids there.  Let's give all kinds of items for their TRICK OR TREAT.  They can use anything that is NOT food that the kids can trick of treat for... stickers, glow sticks, bracelets, just anything small they can fit in their bags.  We will collect items between now and October 16th, and will deliver them to the hospital.  Let's make it the best Halloween ever for these kids!!

Thank you all for your love and support!!
Love,
Hannah

I am so excited!  Today, we picked up our first bows for our BOWS & BALLCAPS donations.  I have to say a very special thank you to Mrs. Sue Layne.  Mrs. Sue is the wonderful lady who first introduced me to wearing bows.  When I was about two-years-old, we were visiting her consignment store in Hendersonville.  She called my mom later that day and told her she wanted to make something special for me and asked us to come back by and pick it up.  It was a special bow she had made on tights that was nice and soft on my head and also stayed on really well.  I loved it from the first day, and that was the beginning of my love for wearing bows.  Mrs. Sue has made bows for me for eight years now, and now I have quite a collection.  And she has generously offered to make bows for BOWS & BALLCAPS.  I know these bows are perfect for little girls without hair... just like me!.  Thank you so much, Mrs. Sue.  I love you!!  We picked up a great assortment of bows she made especially for us today, and we have our first visit scheduled at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital on September 27th.  More information to come as we get closer.  But thank you to all of you who have been sending messages and donations.  Love, Hannah

I have to share a story from today.  This afternoon, we went to the chiropractor, and we met a really nice family.  They have a daughter named Tabitha who was diagnosed with Alopecia in May.  She's six years old and had hair down to her waist before it all fell out.  She was so beautiful and had the prettiest earrings and the cutest smile.  I've never met another person with alopecia before.  I was so excited!!  We really enjoyed talking with her mom and playing with Tabitha.  I'm having some special bows made just for her to match her school uniforms.  It was the greatest experience.  Even thought we originally planned Bows & Ballcaps to help kids with cancer, it's great to help other kids with alopecia, too.  I'm so excited to have Bows & Ballcaps to give bows to her.  I told her mom about the website, so I hope she sees this and knows we're thinking of her!!
Love, Hannah!

September is always my favorite month of the year... it's my birthday month, my mom's birthday month, and my dad's birthday month, so we always celebrate all month long.  But September is also Alopecia Areata Awareness month.  More than 5 million people in the US have Alopecia Areata and 3 million of us are under the age of 20.  That's a lot of people just like me.  And unfortunately, many of these kids are bullied and made fun of at school every day because they look different.  Bows & Ballcaps is here to help encourage anyone who doesn't have hair to be confidant and ok looking different.  Everybody is different.  No one is the same… for good or bad.  And I think not having hair makes you even more special, because God made you an extra special way for a reason.  It’s just figuring out what to do with it.  Please take time to visit www.naaf.org or type in alopecia in the search on facebook to learn a lot more about what others are doing to raise awareness for alopecia this month.  And please tell others about Bows & Ballcaps.  We've had over 1,200 visitors to my website and facebook site this first week.  We are SOOO excited and getting ready for our first couple of visits.  So keep passing the word.  I love you all and can't say thank you enough for all of the messages, donations, love and support we have received this week.  Love, Hannah!!